Review: ‘The Americans’ – ‘Operation Chronicle’

A review of tonight's “The Americans” coming up just as soon as I don't have a niece or a cousin…

“One day, it's coming. You know it is.” -Elizabeth

After the emotional explosion that was “Martial Eagle,” it feels like “The Americans” has eased back on Philip and Elizabeth's crisis of faith (in Mother Russia, not in the god they don't believe in) in favor of moving the season's big story arcs forward before next week's finale. But if Philip has mostly calmed down since his confrontation with Pastor Tim, Elizabeth's time with Jared only increases her own concerns about the risks this job creates for both them and their kids.

The season has had so many moving pieces that it hasn't had a lot of time to deal with the mystery of who killed Emmett and Leanne. For a while, we thought it was Larrick, and maybe it will turn out to be true, but the last real clue we got of any sort involved Claudia's lover many episodes. But the fact that the Centre is so concerned about Jared, and apparently was sending an undisguised Kate to spend time with him and teach him the signals, at least opens the possibility that this was an inside job – that Emmett and Leanne had done something their KGB masters did not approve of, and they had to be eliminated (with their daughter as collateral damage). That level of ruthlessness doesn't seem beyond either side of this not-so-cold war, and if that turns out to be the case, boy oh boy is that going to create some tension for season 3. And even if the killer turns out to be Larrick (who appears on course to have one last fight with the Jennings family next week), Claudia's lover, Fred (if it turns out he's not as shy as he seems) or some other player we haven't met, the job having consequences of this degree – where Paige and Henry could be orphaned, or sent to live on their own in a strange and faraway country, or killed alongside their sleeper agent parents – is definitely putting some doubt in Elizabeth the true believer, to go nicely with the ones her husband has had for quite some time.

And there is already a lot of doubt over at the Rezidentura, where Oleg is giving Nina cash to make a run for it (assuming she still has the freedom of movement to do it) even as Arkady is in the midst of springing the trap on Stan. It's an impressive pivot the show has done with Oleg over the season, from smug nepotism hire to slick spymaster to this guy so consumed with feelings for Nina that he would sacrifice both the mission and his future to protect her. Oleg has become Stan, and the actual Stan is so broken that anything could happen with him and Echo. (Note, for instance, that he kept saying the name of the system to Gaad, which could have been a guilty conscience controlling his tongue or could have been him trying to tip off his boss to what's coming.)

This season has made a wreck of all the adult characters, and at times it's made a wreck of me. There's an awful lot to deal with next season – even if Fields and Weisberg intend to stretch some of what happens here into next season, just as they did with Elizabeth's gunshot wound, Martha and Clark's marriage, Paige's doubts, etc. – but it's been a fantastic ride so far.

Some other thoughts:

* I respect that the show keeps addressing potential logic problems by having characters bring them up. At a certain point, for instance, Paige would be old enough to recognize that travel agents shouldn't have to run out so often late at night to handle travel emergencies, just as any woman married to Clark for a time would realize he's wearing a wig, even if it's the best possible wig technology available to the KGB at the time.

* Speaking of Martha, any guesses on how Philip may try to evade the kid issue? Get a vasectomy while wig-less? He can't surreptitiously give her birth control pills if he's not with her every day.

* Henry, like many “Star Trek” fans in 1982 (I was a little younger than him at the time) is rightly very skeptical of “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan,” given how terrible (and how unlike the TV show) “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” was. Just you wait, Henry: “Khan” may well be the best thing to happen to you all year. (That, or “E.T.”)

* Sandra's announcement that she's moving in with her lover is all the more brutal because of how matter-of-fact it is. She's not angry; she just recognizes that it's over, and so does he.

* As it did in this area throughout the winter, the snow level fluctuates wildly from outdoor scene to outdoor scene; the problem here is that they're sometimes scenes that are supposed to be taking place on the same day.

* They spent a lot of time on Stan buying the used car. I suppose there are some parallels to be made with Stan's work and professional situations – everyone knows something shady is happening, but nobody wants to come right out and talk about it – but unless that car somehow becomes a huge plot point in the finale, that could've been trimmed down, even in one of the season's shorter episodes.

Season finale next week. I haven't watched yet, but I should have both a review of the finale up a week from tonight, plus a chat with Fields and Weisberg.

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You would think Philip would have already had a vasectomy given his honeypot duties.

By: Athabasca

05.15.2014 @ 1:52 PM

@Slackerinc, Claudia’s lover was never seen onscreen, only mentioned by Claudia to Elizabeth at the beginning of the 4th season.

By: Athabasca

05.15.2014 @ 1:54 PM

Oops, wrong thread!

By: Athabasca

05.15.2014 @ 1:54 PM

Oops, wrong thread!

By: rafanadel

05.16.2014 @ 2:01 AM

Probably had one, but didn’t tell Martha

By: rafanadel

05.16.2014 @ 2:01 AM

Probably had one, but didn’t tell Martha

By: Peter Woods

05.16.2014 @ 2:33 AM

The post-coital condom business suggests a way for Martha to get pregnant without Phillip knowing a thing about it.

By: Brubarian

05.15.2014 @ 3:24 AM

Nina Sergeevna has become the most enigmatic character in the history of television. And yes, that’s quite hyperbolic of me to say. But seriously, think. Who else even comes close to her. One seasons and 12 episodes deep… we have no idea which way the woman is actually leaning. Make your case one way or the other if you want, but Annet Mahendru’s character work is absolutely flawless and deserving of an Emmy nod.

By: Hunter2012

05.15.2014 @ 9:22 AM

I agree Nina is very hard to read, although I do believe she has genuine feelings for both Stan and Oleg. Stan isn’t an act.

However I did believe it was also a stratagem in part that she wanted to keep her options open with both men if one or the other doesn’t pan out. Right now she knows her only option is with Stan since going back to Moscow means a trial and death. But her relationship with Oleg is unexpectedly giving her the financial means to escape. Stan getting her a vehicle gives her the physical means to travel incognito and a chance for to rely on her own skills to disappear into the fabric of America in a city without an official Soviet presence, so being with both men was the smart way to go. While the KGB staged her beating for the benefit of Stand and not trying to really hurt her now she knows her days are numbered anyway so the Stan option is the only option-unless as a real dark horse wild guess this is a sting on Oleg to somehow entrap him as well as Stan.

I just hope Nina isn’t important enough to bother sending Elizabeth & Philip after her to “repatriate” her or simply kill her if she manages to run, like with the KGB defector and Anton. I can see this show going there, real dark for the audience. The first and only time Nina and either or both Jennings meet is for the Jennings to kidnap or more likely kill her. How will most of the audience feel about that? Most of us I think can and have overlook them killing US traitors, soldiers and sailors (especially Capt. Larrick when it comes to it especially if he kills Jared), FBI agents, security guards, cops (at least coming close a couple of times) and even perfectly innocent wrong place at the wrong time Americans. But either of them killing Nina? THAT will be very conflicting and heartbreaking for us. It would be for me.

I do think Stan will come out of this alive and not revealed as a traitor if only to preserve the “Hank Shreader” (sp?) angle of the continuing arc (“Breaking Bad” reference). I think Hank will have something up his sleeve to surprise the KGB.

By: SlackerInc

05.15.2014 @ 12:32 PM

Good post, Hunter; but does she have the car? Stan didn’t get a chance to give it to her, did he?

I’m a little surprised that Oleg seems so pessimistic about whether Stan will give up the Echo program.

By: andrei

05.15.2014 @ 1:17 PM

You have to remember 1982 technology – stealing that program isn’t as easy as pocketing a CD. It would be funny if Stan were able to get into the room alone, then realize that the program was a shelf full of 50 magnetic tape reels!

By: Hunter2012

05.19.2014 @ 2:30 PM

@Slackerinc:

No she doesn’t have the car yet but Stan can have it soon and it will be waiting for her. The trick will be to be able to get her to it alive away from her KGB watchers.

@Andrei:

I think the Soviets has taken that into account. Maybe it is on one big reel of tape, maybe it will be on a few 8 inch floppies LOL!

Fred (John Carroll Lynch) is the balding guy who used to work with Emmett. Philip asked to get a sample of the radar absorbent paint. Claudia said she met a man while working with Emmett and Leanne but I don’t remember her saying it was Fred.

By: Athabasca

05.15.2014 @ 4:07 AM

Isn’t Fred the agent-operative Philip and Elizabeth met to go over how the stealth paint is going to be stolen? Fred is the guy doing the fake budget review at the DOD plant.

By: Hask

05.15.2014 @ 4:16 AM

Note the comma between the words lover and Fred. He and Claudia’s lover are both on Alan’s suspect list, along with Larrick and possibly someone we haven’t met yet.

Hask

By: Hunter2012

05.15.2014 @ 10:17 AM

I am still considering Fred as a viable suspect, although Larrick tracking Jared is alarming and Fred is busy getting his sticky shoes and going on a mission.

I think Larrick is just using Jared as a way to track Elizabeth-or if he doesn’t recognize her another KGB officer lead-so he can find the Jennings. If Jared was the target I think he could’ve killed him anytime he wanted, and dispose of the body discreetly. He was able to plant a transmitter in his back pack. Instead Jared is bait (I think the black female KGB agent-aka an asset-in the cabin is going to be a red shirt, perhaps after forcing her to signal the Jennings to get one or both up there). Larrick could very well be the murderer of most of Jared’s family, but seeing how Larrick operates in methodically tracking down George, Kate and Jared it doesn’t seem to fit with him murdering Emmet & Leanne and their daughter in broad daylight in a hotel room where he could be seen, despite the head shots. And I don’t think it is the KGB for both reasons of morale and I think they would be much more efficient and quieter in getting rid of them for whatever motive it could be. A slaughter in a hotel room with dead KGB operatives getting their picture plastered in the newspapers is sonic boom deafeningly loud for any kind of operatives, special forces or Intelligence who are both trained to operate with the utmost discretion. If it was either Larrick or the KGB, or Claudia’s Mr. Wrong who is responsible something terrible had gone wrong.

And something else: When P&E went to meet Fred about the stealth paint mission Philip described his personality and in doing so recounted many of the personality traits we have heard so often in the last 32 years since the real 1982 (and of course long before that) about serial and mass killers and lone assassins including the shooters in malls and schools have been described that way mostly (with some significant number of exceptions). I don’t want to pile on the loners being potential killer suspects stereotype because they don’t feel important and have been oppressed by society in someway real or imagined because it’s definite that most loners/shy people aren’t like that, but I think there is a reason that both Philip-and before that Fred himself bringing it up in his interview with Stan after some uncomfortable profile like questions from him-that it has been noted;or it could be a audio Red Hearing. :-)

I do think Claudia’s “Mr. Wrong” can be a suspect. Can’t leave a plot clue like that dangling.

And no, I don’t think Claudia would go for Fred or Fred for Claudia. She strikes me is a significantly older than him (in real life Margo Martindale is 62 while John Carroll Lynch, who plays Fred, will turn 51 August 1st, but I concede their characters could be younger/older respectively) and while I am sure Fred knows full well he has never has been an never will be a winner with the ladies, I think he would go after someone less…matronly. Ironically now that Philip is essentially his new Handler I think Martha would be in Fred’s wheelhouse/league-and she doesn’t mind bald men LOL!

By: SlackerInc

05.15.2014 @ 12:38 PM

What episode did Claudia’s lover appear in? I remember her being close to the general who was killed, but I don’t remember an American lover (or one that lived in the U.S.).

It is going to be interesting to see if they can wrap up the murders of the other KGB family in a way that makes sense. One thing that has nagged at me: if it was someone from the spy world that got them, why was the briefcase left behind?

By: Athabasca

05.15.2014 @ 1:56 PM

@Slackerinc, Claudia’s lover was never seen onscreen, only mentioned by Claudia to Elizabeth at the beginning of the 4th season.
Read more at [www.hitfix.com]

By: jack

05.15.2014 @ 2:31 PM

Claudia’s lover hasn’t appeared in an episode yet, as far as we know (does someone remember something I forgot?). Claudia confessed the affair to Elizabeth, confessed that she’d revealed who she was to the lover, and explained that he was a plausible suspect given his knowledge. But I don’t recall Philip and Elizabeth going after this guy, and it’s weirdly been a loose thread ever since.

The thing that is weird about that whole encounter is that Claudia had to know how difficult it would be to kill two trained deep cover KGB agents, so unless her lover is a trained killer he’d have to have been really lucky to pull that off. And if he had the training and skills, why didn’t Claudia direct them to the lover immediately rather than to Larrick? When she suggests Larrick as the killer, it’s because he’s the most likely suspect given his training and background. Then when that appears to be a dead end, she mentions the lover. But it felt almost like she only covering ever potentiality.

I feel like maybe Claudia’s lover was a story element they intended to follow but Margo Martindale wasn’t available for as many episodes as they originally intended, so they let that story thread dangle.

By: SlackerInc

05.15.2014 @ 2:37 PM

Thanks, guys. You’ve jogged my memory now. Jack, you are probably right about leaving that thread dangling (talk about Chekhov’s _________ ) because of Martindale scheduling issues. Which is really awkward, for all the reasons you cite; and it may mean that they have had to invent some out-of-left-field explanation for the murders instead, which will just not feel right.

By: Karen Baird

05.15.2014 @ 4:09 PM

I’m almost certain I remember that when Claudia revealed that she had a lover, she never used either masculine or feminine pronouns. By listening to that carefully worded revelation, I immediately thought that she had a lesbian lover. Obviously, that was completely verboten in both US and Soviet societies at the time, and the current trend in US media is to constantly fly the rainbow flag in support of acceptance of gay, lesbian, transgender, and bisexual people. Did anyone else get that vibe?

By: enchanting.monkey

05.15.2014 @ 4:37 PM

Claudia says…

“I got involved with someone while I was working with Emmett and Leanne. I didn’t plan on it, but this business can be lonely,” Claudia explains. “I didn’t tell him who I really was, of course, until one day I did. I trusted him. I don’t know that he betrayed me. But ever since the murders I’ve been plagued with the thought that he told someone, that I may have compromised the safety of my own agents. No one else can understand these relationships. If something were to happen to you or your family–.”

By: 3hares

05.15.2014 @ 9:05 PM

@Jack Claudia might have suggested that her lover told somebody who could then hire somebody etc. to take them out. So even if he himself wasn’t an assassin, telling him could have gotten the secret out.

By: jack

05.16.2014 @ 4:28 AM

3hares: Totally possible, but with one episode left that’s a lot of plot to unpack and seems unlikely considering up to now this plot point has been a dead issue since it came up.

By: 3hares

05.16.2014 @ 2:03 PM

@Jack True–I don’t really have any investment in the idea. Just saying that the Claudia story wasn’t necessarily supposed to rest on the idea that the guy was an assassin.

By: bfish

05.15.2014 @ 3:40 AM

I howled when Martha commented on Philip’s secret — the magic toupe. Real fanservice there I think, but appreciated by this viewer.

The more Oleg the better for me; I’ve found his character fascinating from the start and never really saw him as a diletante in the spy game as some others may have.

I’m very worried for Jared, and felt pretty sorry for Paige a few times tonight. On the bus ride to PA, I was concerned that Pastor Tim (or whatever his name is) could be getting inappropriately cozy with Paige and am glad they didn’t go there.

The used car transaction was interesting for the nod-nod wink-wink discussion of registration, letting us know that Stan was working with a pretty shady dealer.

Yes, Philip should get a vasectomy. He’s using a condom, FWIW, and when Martha started with “let’s have a family” I was thinking I hope he brings the condoms rather than using hers (she could poke holes in them to improve her odds in the pregnancy lottery).

I’m sad that next week is the end of the season. I love this show and look forward to it every week. I’ve been on other sites where it seems like the majority of commenters think it’s too slow and uninteresting in parts. That viewpoint is a real head-scratcher to me!

By: rafanadel

05.16.2014 @ 2:21 AM

OMG my heart was racing last night, like it only did for breaking bad. That will be the number 1 forever. This has been a incredible substitute . Love The Americans. Person of Interest also great.
I have no problem with the fact that Philip had taken care of his virility . I also think Nina will not betray her country. She couldn’t think life with Stan is a possibility even if his marriage is caput. Claudius lover could be Fred. I don’t think he looks like he is 51.
Whatever happens I hope the fall comes quickly.

By: Rosemary

05.15.2014 @ 3:45 AM

Absolutely gripping, riveting television. In league with only 3 other shows in the history of TV. The Sopranos, Breaking Bad and Hannibal. These are my top 4 of all time to date. OK one more….The Wire but that’s it. Done.

By: eddie willers

05.15.2014 @ 4:25 AM

“KHHHAAAANNNN!!!!

By: Alison

05.15.2014 @ 5:32 AM

I must have missed this, but how did Larrick get on to Jared?

By: lelisa13p

05.15.2014 @ 5:56 AM

Emmett & Leann were Larrick’s contacts/handlers. The shooting was reported in the newspapers and Jared would have been listed as the sole surviving family member. Not hard to connect the dots.

Also, remember that Philip and Elizabeth met with Larrick and told him that they were taking over from Emmett & Leann as his new handlers. He’s using the Jared connection to find them because he suspects that they killed his military friends. This will end badly for someone next week.

By: Hunter2012

05.15.2014 @ 10:41 AM

@Lelisa13p:

Exactly. As I said further up Jared is the bait and I think Larrick is counting on Elizabeth being Jared’s handler (I speculate that after learning where Kate lived and her identity it could’ve been Larrick following Kate to Jared, although with his intelligence skills and fake Metropolitan police credentials he could’ve found him that way with out Kate’s unknowing help) to get her up there if he realizes it was Elizabeth with Jared that he was following in the car.

And Jared could be in danger even if I lean heavily against Larrick being the one who killed his family in the first place because he possibly will witness something if Larrick makes a move on that woman in the cabin in upstate New York Jared is staying with.

By: Ray

05.17.2014 @ 9:16 PM

Anybody else have the thought that maybe Larrick planted the message in the toilet paper roll to set the trap using Jared as the bait? He had Kate’s code book so he could have encoded the message.

Of course, Kate meeting with Jared beforehand and showing Kate removing all the TP are contra-indicators.

By: lelisa13p

05.18.2014 @ 12:56 AM

@ Ray – We saw Kate locked in the bathroom, furiously unrolling the toilet paper to empty the roll, presumably to add the message. She then flushed, left the BR and went to meet her doom.

By: lelisa13p

05.15.2014 @ 5:48 AM

I don’t remember if we were previously shown how the tracking device got inside of Jared’s discarded backpack. Good move, dumping that into the trash bin, given that Larrick was using it to track the kid (and thus Elizabeth’s car.)

The cabin that Jared goes to is where Elizabeth spent time recovering from her gunshot wound thru Episode 1, this season? IIRC, we saw her saying her farewells to the same woman (who brought Jared) before driving back home from the faked Great-Aunt incident.

I’m sorry that there is only the finale left in this season. Quality programming is so easy to become accustomed to and so painfully missed between seasons.

By: che

05.15.2014 @ 10:35 AM

I don’t recall, either, how Larrick got the tracking device inside Jared’s backpack. Maybe he got into Jared’s house and planted it, in hopes the boy would eventually lead him to the Jenningses. But he doesn’t seem to have actually tracked him until this episode. Puzzling.

Also puzzling is how, since Larrick couldn’t track them after the rest stop, he knew to go to the train station. Jared and Elizabeth could have still been driving, for all he knew. What did I miss?

By: Hunter2012

05.15.2014 @ 11:15 AM

@Lelisa13p & Che:

Yes we did see that cabin before, in the season premier when Elizabeth was fully recovered from her gun shot would and she was leaving for home, so that black female agent and her cabin is the bookend for the season.

My theory is that Larrick either used his detective/spy skills to find out where Jared lived-probably easy since he is impersonating a police detective-or after finding out where Kate lived followed her and she led him to where Jared lived-if she were to go to the house herself. In either event we have seen how skilled Captain Larrick in getting into homes; That family with the little girl who had the glow worm; George the KGB answering service guy’s house, and of course Kate’s house. the little’s girl’s house he proved he has the stones to go into a home that is occupied so I can definitely see him after staking out Jared for a day or two sneaking into his foster parent’s house planting the bug in his backpack and leaving. Alternatively he could’ve done it in Jared’s school if he is going to school again (strange adults had much more freedom to get into and wonder around a school building during school hours in 1982 of course before the threat of school shootings, potential child abductions and kids bringing weapons and drugs to school really hit) .

He tracked the beacon to the train station where as part of the “Cleaning” procedure-a damn good procedure as we saw-Elizabeth had threw all of Jared’s belongings into a waste bin and getting rid of all of his cloths at the station 15 minutes before Jared’s train pulled out. It was the logical thing for Larrick to do to go in and check with the station’s personnel to ask if they had seen anyone fitting the description he inquired about. There was very little likelihood he would’ve found Elizabeth driving after she left the station since she could’ve gone anywhere after a certain interval (he probably waited for about an hour for that beacon to start moving again. By the time he decided to risk being seen Elizabeth was long gone. He was keeping well back before since the very point of having a beacon planted on Jared is so Larrick can keep out of sight and not risked being spotted as a tail. The down side of course if the beacon is ditched and you didn’t have your target in sight you will likely loose them for the reasons we saw.

As it turned out, again keeping 1982 level of security and the fact he is impersonating a police officer in mind, it was easy to find out what train Jared took and ask again at the destination station someone if they saw him.

By: andrei

05.15.2014 @ 12:38 PM

Jared didn’t change at the station (Elizabeth is too professional for that); he changed at a public bathroom at the beach. After Larrick found the tracker, we saw him studying a map and circling nearby points (likely train stations). From there, his detective work would be enough to find out where Jared went.

I agree with Hunter’s comment above that Larrick intends on using Jared as bait, to get P&E to come to him.

By: SlackerInc

05.15.2014 @ 1:04 PM

“He tracked the beacon to the train station where as part of the ‘Cleaning’ procedure-a damn good procedure as we saw-Elizabeth had threw all of Jared’s belongings into a waste bin and getting rid of all of his cloths at the station 15 minutes before Jared’s train pulled out.”

No, they weren’t at the train station when they did the “cleaning” deal. They were at somewhere else, some deserted spot near the water. Later they pulled up to the train station and it looked different with many more cars in the lot.

When Larrick found the backpack, still with the tracker in it, he knew he couldn’t track them that way any more. So he pulled out a road map and circled the nearby train station. He may have done this for bus stations in the area too, and checked at various places.

BTW, you have twice referred to the KGB woman with the cabin as “black”, but I wouldn’t be so sure the actor would identify herself that way. “The KGB woman with the cabin” makes clear who it is in any case, without getting into race.

By: Dday25

05.15.2014 @ 1:55 PM

@Slackerinc

I think that you are being a little too sensitive. I did not read the previous comments in a negative way, I read it as the easiest way to identify a particular character. The fact is that ‘the KGB woman with the cabin’ is black is the most distinguishing thing about her since there are no other black KGB agents (or other characters come to think of it) on the show.

When it comes to character names, I am horrible at remembering them even if it is a show I watch regularly so I often refer to characters by what I feel is their most identifiable trait; bald traitor = Fred, dumb secretary married to Philip in wig = ???? no clue without looking; badass trying to find & kill Philip & Elizabeth = Jarrick; Philip & Elizabeth’s first handler = woman from Justified; black KGB agent = woman from the cabin.

By: SlackerInc

05.15.2014 @ 2:29 PM

DDAY, I never interpreted the use of “black” there as negative. But even if she were very clearly African American, we wouldn’t need that detail to identify her since we already have enough information when that is removed. So it comes across as a little awkward and a subtle “Othering” of black people (white people being the default, whose race would not be used this way).

But furthermore, it is not a very useful point of identification. If I had seen that woman as much as I saw her on the show (in two episodes), and were asked by the FBI to give a detailed description (a case where race *would* be germane), I would not describe her as black. Maybe Latina, Filipino, or Native American, possibly even Sicilian or something. (And this is after going back to watch those two episodes again.) So I was actually more misdirected by reading that than anything.

By: Hunter2012

05.15.2014 @ 11:09 PM

Andrei & Slackerinc:

Both of you are right. Elizabeth had Jared change in a beach lavatory and not the train station. They continued on after that to the station.

As for describing the black woman at the cabin. It is just a description since I had forgot her name since I did only see her twice in the season that I recall. It is not a method of “othering” another people. It is like if I had forgotten Kate’s name I would’ve described her as the “red head” or Fred, the “bald guy” or Nina the Russian woman. If this was at the beginning of “Game of Thrones” series I would’ve referred to Tyrion Lannister as “the dwarf” or the “little guy”.

If we were meeting Gregory for the first time I would’ve referred to him as “the black guy” if I hadn’t learned or remembered his name yet. It’s meant nothing more than that.

By: SlackerInc

05.16.2014 @ 10:17 PM

Hunter, I would feel much more comfortable with this if I ever saw (outside of police descriptions of suspects) someone being referred to as “white” to identify them. And as I say, you said “the black female agent and her cabin”. Is there anyone reading this who would not have known who you meant if you had simply said “the female agent and her cabin”? I only recall seeing one cabin on this show.

We may have to agree to disagree about this point as far as the general rule; but what makes it really lack sense to describe her this way is that I just don’t think she’s black! It is within the realm of possibility that the actress may self-identify that way (though I’d bet against it); but I just don’t think if you polled a random assortment of people who saw those two brief shots, they would identify her as black or African American.

By: Hunter2012

05.19.2014 @ 2:49 PM

I guess we will have to agree to disagree.

Describing someone that has a particular characteristic that is outstanding from a group of people, skin color, hair color, lack of hair, bushy long hair, short, tall, someone blind, lacking limbs, with a mustache, etc. is nothing sinister to me. Her skin color is just a characteristic worth mentioning in a show that is overwhelmingly white. If this show was say set in a heavily black neighborhood or country or any other non white population and if whites were infrequent characters I would refer to their skin color if I didn’t know the character’s name yet. It’s just that simple.

As to the specific race/ethnicity of the woman in the cabin, her skin color was pretty dark to me, and I assumed black, but yes she could be Asian Indian for instance but she strikes me as black/African American/Afro Caribbean just like the woman Elizabeth met in rehab.

We will see in a few days.

By: guy

05.15.2014 @ 6:21 AM

I think Jerod is the killer who killed his “parents” and his “sister”, or blabbed some secret his “parents” had to the KGB and they killed them. Indeed, why was the Kate seeing him without a disguise? Elizabeth even asked that this episode..it seems like quite a clue? They went out of their way to highlight her doubts by asking that. Why would Kate not care to disguise herself when meeting him? and why was she meeting him at all? Why did she tell whoever would find her message to get him out with her dying message? If he knew nothing, why would she be so concerned? Why did he tell Liz that the FBI visited him? It made no sense. I think he recognized that drawing Stan gave him. Why are they spending so much time with that character? There is something going on with that kid, he is not just an innocent in danger from Larrick.

I thought maybe Kate was Jerod’s mother originally, but she was too young. Maybe we are assuming that family had kids the same way Phillip and Liz did? I think its telling the big mystery of this year..who killed the agents and the daughter has had so few leads. The only one is Larrick, and he said he wanted to but did not, and I did not see any reason to lie. He is an evil bastard and seems to be the kind of person who would have just said he did if he did. They have shown the U.S. was clueless to their deaths until recently. So who else is there? I am on board with maybe they were going to defect, and foolishly told Jerod, who either killed them or told Kate, who then had the KGB do it.

By: Hunter2012

05.15.2014 @ 11:47 AM

It is possible that Jared killed his parents and his sister but I really doubt it. If he did he put on the most convincing and brilliant acting job of being scared, sickened and devastated hysterics all at the same time in the hotel’s hall in front of the guest. And from what I can tell the bodies were moved after death. Why would he do that? Would he know bout a forensic countermeasure like that?

As described in the show he already knew his parents were KGB and perhaps for a long while and so perhaps Kate had no reason to be in disguise since she is a handler and not the type of operator that goes on deep cover missions, just like she isn’t in disguise when she sees P&E. But I concede that it’s possible that Jared got a hold of his parent’s gun somehow and killed them, maybe for being traitors as he saw them (they weren’t of course since they weren’t citizens and never swore allegiance to the US). Children have killed their parents for less.

Still I doubt it. And I also doubt it was the KGB because as mentioned before I think they would’ve handled it with much, much more discretion, not killing them and leaving bodies in a public place and getting their operative’s pictures in the papers even if say they thought they were traitors, which I doubt they were.

So to me the more likely suspects are Larrick and Fred and I lean against Larrick being the killer for much the same reason I lean against the KGB being responsible. Judging from what we have seen of him in action, he too would be much more careful and discreet, so Claudia’s “Mr. Wrong’, the dark horse; and, to me the most likely, Fred, are still the main suspects.

Oh and if Larrick really is innocent of killing specifically Jared’s sister-the parents could be considered genuine targets of “war”-he isn’t evil. So far all we have seen him do is kill KGB Operatives and menaced P&E. If we can overlook P&E killing American citizens for their country and communist Party, we can overlook Larrick for killing KGB officers because they blackmailed him into betraying his country and getting three Americans killed. If that is all he has done he is in no way evil despite the threatening presence he has. If he did kill Jared’s sister and will kill Jared then one can say he’s the bad guy.

By: SlackerInc

05.15.2014 @ 1:08 PM

It’s an odd mystery, and I hope they can land it in a way that will make sense. I agree with Guy that there’s something strange about Kate meeting Jared without being disguised. (Note, Hunter, that when P&E meet Fred, they always wear disguises even though Fred knows they are KGB.)

By: guy

05.15.2014 @ 7:34 PM

hunter2012, you are right about Larrick, he does have cause to hate them. They were blackmailing him because he is gay and he thought they were only going to take pictures of the camp, not kill anyone.

But I cannot fathom who else did it other than the KGB. Yes, its sloppy in some ways, but maybe they will explain that. Fred is way too removed from the plot to have that reveal be any big event. I am doubting it was Larrick, even if he is not evil, he still seems like someone who just would have admitted he killed them, and stated he didn’t.

Its been “shown” it wasn’t the US, so who is left? The KGB and/or Jerod. I did not think his reaction to the deaths was “extraordinary” but would be what you would expect if you killed them and happened to find them later in front of potential witnesses.

By: 3hares

05.15.2014 @ 9:11 PM

It’s weird for Jared to mention to the child protections officer woman that the FBI came to see him (not a secret) but it’s normal for the KGB to be having friendly meetings with the person who killed two of their valuable agents and his sister? I’m not sure why you’re using quotes around those things because they are his parents and his sister. Even if they weren’t biologically theirs–but there’s no reason to think they both weren’t since we saw Leanne even talking about her new baby to Elizabeth in a flashback.

There’s a lot of questions about what’s going on with Jared that have been lampshaded in the story, but they don’t mean he killed his parents and his sister.

By: lelisa13p

05.16.2014 @ 12:59 AM

Maybe Mossad has a dog in this fight. They were after that Soviet scientist a few episodes back & had to make a trade for their own agent. Maybe they want stealth technology, too. Emmett and Lianne could’ve been in their way. All of these guys are sore losers.

By: Reb

05.16.2014 @ 3:52 PM

Very cool idea, and it could set up Eliz. and Phil. Having been duped by him because their conduct in connection with Jared has been substantially driven sentimentality and worries about heir own kids being in danger.

By: guy

05.16.2014 @ 8:31 PM

3hares- actually it would be normal if they were no longer valuable, say they were going to quit or defect. If he ratted out his parents, Kate may have been seeing him to assuage his guilt or any feeling he had.

By: 3hares

05.16.2014 @ 8:40 PM

I was specifically referring to the idea of Jared killing their valuable agents himself. If he ratted them out and he killed them and his sister in consequence I’d think it was strange that Jared was going to them for comfort for his guilt. He ought to be horrified by them. If he actually wanted them slaughtered then he’s more of a sociopath than any of the Illegals we’ve seen.

By: SlackerInc

05.16.2014 @ 10:00 PM

If it is shown to be Jared, that’s going to be a shark-jumping moment. The problem is, I suspect they were setting it up to be Claudia’s lover, but then Martindale became less available and they had to abandon that thread. It increasingly looks to me like they are going to have to shoehorn some other culprit in there and it’s not going to make sense with everything we have been shown earlier.

By: 3hares

05.16.2014 @ 10:03 PM

I think they must have known from the start of the season that MM would only be available for a few eps.

By: SlackerInc

05.16.2014 @ 10:27 PM

3Hares, then why would they spin out this whole tale about Claudia’s lover, and then completely drop it for the rest of the season? That’s a no-no, right out of Drama 101.

By: lelisa13p

05.16.2014 @ 10:40 PM

Other than a few sentences spoken to Elizabeth in the car, there has been no mention of Claudia’s lover. We know that she spoke of him to Elizabeth because she was mourning the deaths of Emmett, Leanne and their daughter but perhaps this was the writers’ way of showing us (again) the personal toll that the work eventually takes on all of the operatives. We saw that side of Claudia when Elizabeth was shot and also upon the death of her mentor, Zhukov.

I’ll be very surprised if Claudia’s indiscretion is responsible for the deaths of the Connors.

By: Chesterfield

05.15.2014 @ 6:36 AM

You remember, Alan? We had a conversation about Martha vs Philip’s wig last year, and I said I read it as her noticing, but finding it endearing that he had this little vanity, that he wouldn’t let her see him without it.

Someone else (sorry, don’t remember who) said it would awesome if she ripped the wig off, supposedly in the throes of passion, and it turned out that underneath he had a bald cap.

Anyway, the wigs were a thing last year, for some reason, and the show has been smart enough to address that fairly head on. This show has REALLY stepped up this year. I’m in the midst of rewatching the season, but I suspect it’s actually 12 for 12 so far. Maybe there is a weaker episode in the middle of the season.

By: Hunter2012

05.15.2014 @ 11:56 AM

Wigs wee the thing last year because to us the audience they looked ridiculous since we knew what they looked like without them and wondered why they don’t fly off.

Also we didn’t know that in real life they are used by real life operatives sometimes (in real life last year an American “diplomat” working out of the American Embassy in Moscow was caught trying to turn a Russian official. Among his things were two rat pelt looking wigs-blond and black-that looked worse than Philip’s wigs) so we as an audience weren’t familiar with that and it seems like a cheap spy story move, “James Bond-ish” and “Mission: Impossible”-ish, not worthy of a high caliber close to reality spy thriller like “The Americans”

By: Chesterfield

05.15.2014 @ 1:45 PM

@HUNTER2012: Yeah, I understood that people thought they looked ridiculous, and I am admittedly a notoriously bag “wig-spotter”. What I meant that it was never a thing that bothered me and I never thought it was a huge deal. The wigs and disguises always seemed to me to function more to hide their actual appearance than to be entirely, 100% credible on their own (although, obviously that happened as well).
Also, truth will always continue to be stranger than fiction.

Whenever the discussion of the wigs and disguises comes up, I keep thinking of a sequence in “Batman: Year One”, where Bruce disguises himself by giving himself a huge scar on the cheek. He explains that he does it to give any witnesses a clear and obvious detail to focus on so that they’ll have a hard time describing his looks beyond that. Often, the disguises in “The Americans” seem to function in the same way.

By: crackd

05.16.2014 @ 12:14 PM

IIRC Philip has used a big fake winespot on his cheek and Elisabeth actually used a fake scar at some point. This works extremely well, people will normally only remember one defining mark to “remember” someone. If someone is of another race that will be the thing they mention; he was black. Than its usually hair color / style followed by posture. But a disfigurement will trump all

By: gershomatl

05.18.2014 @ 7:24 PM

Philip’s “cover” was blown. Har Har

By: dlj

05.15.2014 @ 11:48 AM

I don’t think the KGB makes sense as a suspect in the deaths of Emmett & Leanne. They could have just been ordered to go somewhere for a meet and easily killed without any bodies being discovered or collateral damage. Fred doesn’t seem like a possibility either based on everything we’ve seen.

By: SlackerInc

05.15.2014 @ 1:10 PM

Right, but the problem is that no one really looks like a good candidate, really. I guess Larrick could have just lied, but the whole thing seems odd. I can’t think of any TV mystery like this that had so few plausible suspects.

By: andrei

05.15.2014 @ 1:27 PM

My backup theory (after Larrick) is that it was actually a random robbery-gone-wrong (that set all these other wheels in motion via the butterfly effect) – I just don’t know whether that would be a brilliant misdirection or an incredibly stupid copout on the part of the robbers!

By: jack

05.15.2014 @ 1:48 PM

The only plausible explanation for their murders is that it was done by a trained killer, which definitely excludes Jared (as someone else suggested) and likely excludes Fred. Two head shots and a fatal neck wound is extremely hard to do. Plus it likely occurred in a few seconds at close range, making it even harder to accomplish without training and experience. Your typical thief probably isn’t a crackshot with a silencer.

By: andrei

05.15.2014 @ 5:28 PM

…writers, not robbers. Duh!

By: guy

05.15.2014 @ 7:21 PM

Well, your assuming the KGB wanted it done without bodies being found or collateral damage, if they did it. They would obviously consider two of their best sleeper agents leaving or defecting to be a betrayal of the highest order. I would assume if the KGB did it, it would have to be something serious like defecting to trigger such a harsh murder with their kid.

By: 3hares

05.15.2014 @ 9:14 PM

Even if the KGB thought that a hint of defection (which the Connors showed no sign of when we met them–they died stealing important plans) was enough reason to kill them and their daughter instead of dragging them back to Russia or whatever, it would still make more sense for them to do it quietly instead of making it a murder all over the front pages. Not to mention failing to take the one-time book in Emmett’s briefcase which Philip went for immediately. If Philip hadn’t done that that would have been found.

By: chet

05.15.2014 @ 11:44 PM

How about Claudia as a possibility for being the killer – an experienced agent, an effortless liar, able to put the victims off their guard in order to get off the difficult shots.

By: Hunter2012

05.16.2014 @ 12:21 AM

I concede Fred is my pet theory but my focus on Fred is because other than Captain Larrick he is the only other person that we know of and has been shown to have known E&L and had lots of contact with them and he was in the area with them, both goes to opportunity. I concede we don’t have any motive for Fred like we do big time for Larrick and Larrick’s own admission he tried to kill them himself before “someone else” beat him to it; and we don’t know what kind of experience Fred has had with firearms. He is a paper pusher but we don’t know what he did in his off time like go to a target range for fun, but again I don’t know that while we KNOW that Larrick is a trained killer and again we have seen how methodical, careful and discreet Larrick has been with his known kills while on the other hand shooting three people in a hotel room during the day with a fairly busy avenue of escape (the hallway) where he could be seen seems to be reckless, or a opportunity to be seized no matter the risk, and, to me, the bodies were moved for some reason. Yes I know E&L were highly trained KGB officers but even them can be caught unawares by a familiar face.

Also his profile was highlighted by both Stan indirectly in his interview with him and Philip describing him to his wife from the meetings he had with him.

Another thing I remembered from the meeting of P&E with Fred: Fred mentioned that he never met Leanne before, just dealt with Emmett. If so then why did he have Star Wars model kits for Jared in his closet as assumed by Philip when Fred caught Philip in his house after Philip zapped himself with the booby trap? I mean it could be Fred bought them for himself because at 51 I’m still interested in assembling plastic model kits (naval ships and Ocean Liners mainly) as a lot of adults do, but Fred never corrected Philip saying they were for him or another kid.

But that brings something else up: If they were for Jared why would he have contact with Emmet’s son but never met his wife Leanne? I know it is a small thing, but…

Anyway we will all know the answer next week. It could be the “obvious” suspect Larrick; or my suspect Fred; or it could be Claudia’s “Mr. Wrong” who had a blabber mouth and told someone else; or it could be the KGB (but to me that is the least likely. The Mafia and other criminal gangs make statements to the public like that as a warning but not intelligence services and yes if it were the KGB why didn’t they get the code book like how Philip instinctively went to look for?) or Jared.

We’ll see. :-)

By: jack

05.16.2014 @ 3:25 AM

I agree with 3Hares that the KGB is unlikely to sanction such a messy hit, especially when they’d have ample room to “disappear” Leanne and Emmet without involving the kids. Same for the CIA.

As for Fred and Jared, if the key to Fred is family (as Philip has deduced) then it makes sense for Emmet to have told Fred about his son Jared as a way into Fred’s heart. Fred could easily have been giving Emmet the toys and models as gifts for a kid he’d never met. I’ve seen that behavior before in adults, living vicariously through their friends with kids even though they spend no time with the kids.

By: Dave

05.16.2014 @ 6:51 AM

I don’t think that Fred could be the killer because my recollection is that he was being followed closely that weekend by a couple DoD security personnel, which came up when Philip was pressed into service to help with the information handoff from Fred. Fred therefore would have been followed by them if he went to a hotel to kill 3 people.

By: Dave

05.16.2014 @ 7:07 AM

To Hunter’s point, I was starting to think that the show was heading toward a reveal that Fred sexually assaulted Jared – without Emmett’s knowledge, or possibly even with it – but that seems like too dark of a place to go, even for this show.

That said, it does seem like there has to be some unexpected twist that ties together Jared’s knowledge of his parents and Kate, their deaths, and their work running Larrick and Fred. I could see Claudia’s lover being in the mix somehow, but I think that the reveal will be more complicated than simply that it was him who set up the hit on Emmett and Leanne.

By: SlackerInc

05.16.2014 @ 10:06 PM

It’s a great point, Dave. Unfortunately, as I said on another thread, this all has the feel of a situation where the writers have gotten boxed in a corner (perhaps because of Martindale’s unavailability; it is very odd to bring up her lover and then drop it the way they have) and are going to have to shoehorn in a perpetrator that is either completely out of left field or doesn’t make sense given things like how Fred was followed.

At this point, it would be the easiest to swallow if it comes out that it was Larrick after all, and P&E can then feel angst over having believed his lies and gotten greedy over his value to them, when they had the chance to kill him more than once.

By: Hunter2012

05.19.2014 @ 3:01 PM

@Dave:

I also had the thought that the so called DOD agents that were trailing him weren’t really agents but just men that happened to be following him. After all why would they be following him only then (and so closely when I would think they would be more discreet)? They don’t seem to be following him during the times Fred met with Philip?

By: Dday25

05.15.2014 @ 12:24 PM

Did anyone else notice Fred walk past Stan in the hallway while Stan was checking the security protocols in place for the ‘Echo’ program?

I am assuming it had to be Fred, because the scene starts in tight on Stan and the other government official then a body grazes past Stan and the shot then pans out and you see a bald man walking the opposite direction.

By: Hunter2012

05.15.2014 @ 11:27 PM

I thought maybe the bald guy that they walked by was Fred too since we never saw his face, but we did see him walking with the tight camera close up on the man’s shoes as he was walking away from the camera and we “following” behind on his heels. Connect that with the scene a few minutes earlier about P&E getting special shoes for Fred to pick up paint particles from the shop floor the possibility that it was Fred Stan had walked by passed through my mind, but I think Stan would’ve recognized him if it was Fred with a double take or something since he had interviewed him at length, but it is possible that Stan forgot about Fred because he was busy trying to get at “Echo” and worrying about Nina and of course he had interviewed other men connected to the DOD meeting like Fred was.

By: Jacob

05.15.2014 @ 12:53 PM

I expected more. Usually all the big stuff happen in the penultimate episode, but this just set up the things for the finale which should be great given how much of the stuff has to be resolved.

By: andrei

05.15.2014 @ 1:11 PM

Boy, there are a lot of loose threads going into the finale – I don’t see how (short of a 2-1/2 hour movie) they can resolve all of them:

1. Larrick closing in on Jared (he will likely find the cabin next ep, but I think that situation will linger into S3);

2. Wrapping up the mystery of Emmit and Leanne’s killer (Occam’s Razor still points to Larrick; but Claudia’s mystery man is still out there – is Margo Martindale going to be in the finale?);

3. Fred’s mission to shuffle up some paint (will possibly be killed or arrested in the attempt; I don’t see him as a continuing character);

4. Stan’s Echo-location quest (what did the tech say to Stan right before “I’ll get you in there tomorrow”?);

5. Paige getting arrested at the nuclear protest (is there any doubt now that this will happen after Henry’s anviliscious teasing?);

6. Nina’s balancing act (this has to continue into S3, doesn’t it? No one wants to lose Nina!);

7. Martha’s boldness in taking classified documents (now I’m leaning more towards her getting arrested by the FBI rather than killed – even worse for the Jennings).

Can’t wait for Wednesday!

By: TsarMisha

05.15.2014 @ 2:04 PM

I agree, LOTS of loose ends… but some tips in the ‘Scenes From Next Week”… It was fleeting, so much so that I had to rewind to be sure, but there was a shot of Claudia on a park bench, so I’m guessing she comes back next week for….. ?

Also in SFNW was Phillip talking to someone (arkady?) saying “My wife and I are done” … which, regardless of what happens with Larrick and Echo, sets up a possible Phillizabeth v KGB situation for S3 if by “done” Phillip meant done with Directorate S…

By: Athabasca

05.15.2014 @ 2:06 PM

God, I hope Claudia doesn’t get killed, but she is very vulnerable now that her lover compromised her.

An even sadder fate for Martha is in store. She will lose her job, probably be convicted as an accessory on espionage charges, lose Clark, of course, and ultimately commit suicide.

Poor Martha.

By: Athabasca

05.15.2014 @ 2:09 PM

@Tsarmisha, are we certain P&E are handled by Directorate S? I thought all sleeper cells were handled by Moscow Centre. We have never seen any scenes with P&E and Arkady. I think it would give the show a Keystone Cops feel, actually. Not a good thing.

By: andrei

05.15.2014 @ 5:24 PM

Tsarmisha – many or all of my questions could have been answered by the previews, but I have been spoiled so many times before that as soon as I hear “Next week on….”, that’s my signal to turn off the TV. I’d rather go into the hour with no expectations.

By: guy

05.15.2014 @ 7:24 PM

I would think maybe Phillip is talking to Arkady because of all the deaths left them with no one else to do it, but we will find out. It would be an emergency since Arkady has to assume he is followed by us.

By: kcgranger

05.15.2014 @ 7:44 PM

Don’t forget: They’ve already been approved for a third season. Some of these loose threads you mentioned will stay loose, I assume.

By: Hunter2012

05.16.2014 @ 1:58 AM

@Athabasca:

Directorate S is the division of the KGB that handles the illegals Program. I would imagine the head of that department would be in Moscow like all the other KGB divisions at KGB headquarters so referring to “The Centre” would cover that, like if CIA officers referred to its headquarters as “The Centre” they would mean Langley, Virginia (unless there was some policy or order that came specifically from Washington DC).

By: TsarMisha

05.15.2014 @ 2:07 PM

Damn. I love this show!!! Hits it so right on so many levels… I actually made my first trip to the USSR in ’83, so it really strikes a chord… and they get pretty much all the Soviet stuff right… I felt a little tear roll down my cheek when Oleg gave Nina the Young Pioneer pin…. I still have a steamer trunk full of those things! ;)

By: andrei

05.15.2014 @ 5:25 PM

Man, that’s a lot of pins! ;-)

By: TsarMisha

05.15.2014 @ 5:27 PM

I traded a lot of pairs of Levi’s for ’em! ;)

By: chiefdeputy

05.15.2014 @ 2:38 PM

I love this show, but Larrick is ridiculous. He single-handedly has dismantled the soviet operation, meanwhile the soviets remain “concerned” that their communications network and operatives are not “in contact,” but do nothing about it and move forward with their stealth spy plans? Larrick can “pretend” to be an investigator and find, track and dispose of anyone in the soviet scheme but the soviets only have Phillip & Elizabeth to handle everything else and cannot investigate anything? Who killed Jared’s parents? Who killed the communications guy? Who killed Kate? Where is Larrick? What do the US spy guys know and/or are they behind any of the soviet murders? Are the soviets not interested in any of this?

Unless the soviets are behind all of this, which they clearly are not, they would be freaking out that their network has been compromised, their agents killed, their remaining agents in danger and they would shut it all down until they figured out what was going on.

By: jack

05.15.2014 @ 9:15 PM

You and I are of a like mind that Larrick is becoming near omnipotent in his powers and capabilities, while the KGB seems suddenly inept in its ability to access the damage he’s doing or react to it. They’ve been incredibly adept prior to this.

By: DLJ

05.15.2014 @ 10:47 PM

We don’t see how the higher-ups are reacting in Moscow – they may very well be “freaking out.” Plus, the audience has perspective that even a highly competent in-show person could not. We see connections that the KGB wouldn’t be aware of, at least not immediately.

Emmett & Leanne underestimated Larrick. He picked up a lot while being run as an asset. There is plenty of TV suspension of disbelief in this show, like pretty much all shows, but Larrick is a very intriguing antagonist because of the moral ambiguities behind the character.

By: jack

05.16.2014 @ 3:20 AM

For me, I agree he has interesting moral ambiguities. But regardless of our Godlike perspective as a TV audience, Larrick has become the 1982 equivalent of Jason Bourne. He’s institutionally capable of anything imaginable at this point and in practice able to anticipate and counter everything that has been thrown at him. It’s fairly absurd in a show that pretends at a fair amount of realism the way The Americans does, regardless of how fantastical the premise might actually be. There’s suspension of disbelief, and then there’s blowing right past that into unrealistic fantasy. Larrick is quickly becoming James Bond.

By: Hunter2012

05.16.2014 @ 3:43 AM

@Jack & DLJ:

I disagree that what we are seeing Larrick do is superhuman or as “omnipotent”, just very good at his job. Most of what he has found out has been just by flashing his fake police credentials, and that opens up a lot of info from bureaucrats and ordinary people. He just followed the steps. The phone company employee lead him to a junction box which traced to George, which traced to Kate who probably lead him to Jared (alternatively he found out without Kate’s unknowing help by making “police” inquires). Nothing superhuman, just working people and some technology connecting the dots-and pulling a trigger and snapping a neck. :-)

And special forces aren’t just jocks that can only shoot and blow things up. I don’t know for a fact that they are trained to do it, but I don’t think it requires much suspension of disbelief to think that a Navy Seal-or Army Delta Force or the Air Force’s Special Operations-have been taught to tap and trace a phone line. And criminals have been known to get authentic looking police credentials, even perhaps genuine articles of such. If criminals can do it…

That said I do agree that the KGB should be and probably are concerned greatly about the disappearance of two key operatives in such quick succession and after two of their other operatives, Emmet & Leanne were killed. whether they should shutdown operations depends on what is at stake. They want stealth BADLY and they don’t want to pass up opportunities to get such intelligence about this technology that they know is a game changer in warfare.

By: jack

05.16.2014 @ 10:48 PM

Actually shooting and blowing things up in any far-flung locale imaginable is exactly what Delta Force, Navy SEALs, and Special Forces are trained and tasked with doing. You don’t spend a million dollars a pop on training the most efficient and capable human fighting machine in existence and then send it off to do spook work. SEALs are involved in spying, but not the way Larrick is going about it. Regardless, Larrick is a convenient plot device. He blows right through the KGB and all of their defenses. If only we had 10 Larricks in the 70s, the Cold War would have been over before Reagan even won a primary.

By: jack

05.17.2014 @ 1:24 AM

Hunter2012: I respect your opinion and appreciate your insight, and Larrick is a well-acted character who is fun to watch. He also offers Philip and Elizabeth a very intense and dangerous challenge. I don’t find him entirely plausible, but my main frustration with him is that so far, he contradicts one of the underlying themes of season 2: the no plan is infallible. We’ve seen it over and over again with Philip and Elizabeth, that their missions are often complicated by unexpected coincidence and/or human obstacles. Heck, you could say that theme applies to Emmet and Leann’s murders, in that they seemed entirely capable until they weren’t, and then they were dead. I find it contradictory that Larrick hasn’t been hindered by any real obstacles, and seems more astute and capable than anyone else we’ve seen in the series’ run. But he’s fun to watch and the show is still great, he just feels like a contrivance to me.

By: Alex

05.15.2014 @ 2:54 PM

Maybe its the intentionally bad wigs, maybe its the two lead actors. I just can’t get into this show. I’ve tried.

By: Hunter2012

05.16.2014 @ 3:58 AM

It is not intentionally bad wigs. What wig looks good?

By: Amerikansky

05.16.2014 @ 9:03 PM

Maybe it’s the obvious rewriting of History.

By: Charlie

05.15.2014 @ 3:08 PM

Alan – it’s funny you mention how they’ve recently steered away from larger order questions like their loyalty to Russia, the cause, a way of life, etc.

What struck me so completely last night was the scene where Elizabeth can’t be around to pack for Paige’s trip. The look that Paige gives her — and the guilt that Elizabeth so clearly feels — is such a great way to illustrate the quandary of Philip’s and Elizabeth’s lives: they have given their lives over to an ideology, but what they really care about (all that matters, at the end of the day) is their daughter’s feelings. How insignificant packing a suitcase is, and yet how much more important than “health, community, and cause”?

By: eddie willers

05.15.2014 @ 6:24 PM

“is such a great way to illustrate the quandary of Philip’s and Elizabeth’s lives: they have given their lives over to an ideology, but what they really care about (all that matters, at the end of the day) is their daughter’s feelings. How insignificant packing a suitcase is, and yet how much more important than “health, community, and cause”?”

My thoughts as well. Phillip sorta likes the US, but for Elizabeth, the mothering instinct will trump the Soviet ideology.

My guess as to how the series will go is that, eventually, P&E will see they need to get away from the KGB and the struggle will move from their [now] impossible lives, to one where they can escape and find security either with the FBI’s help, or avoiding them as well as the Soviets.

Plenty of good stories there and a way for our “heroes” to get the type of “redemption” that Vic Mackey and Walter White received at the end of their run.

By: sactownbull

05.15.2014 @ 3:55 PM

“Speaking of Martha, any guesses on how Philip may try to evade the kid issue? Get a vasectomy while wig-less? He can’t surreptitiously give her birth control pills if he’s not with her every day”

They showed us how

By: HitFix User

05.15.2014 @ 6:09 PM

For two weeks, I’ve been grieving the end of this season. So much is said in these comments, but I’ll add:

* Definitely the most under-appreciated show currently airing on TV… What Rhys and Russell are doing on this show is unmatched right now. For some reason, viewers – and more than a few critics – were seduced by McConaughey’s tics on True Detective, but Rhys is working on a far higher level. Try watching the show with the sound off, or without the picture, and you’ll know what I mean. He’d have been a star in the halcyon days of radio. Come awards season, I expect it will be all but ignored.

* Not since Gilligan and his Breaking Bad crew have I so trusted the integrity of the showrunners. They’re keeping very tight control, so I don’t see The Americans going off the rails.

* Please bring back Margo Martindale!

* Annet Mahendru has a face worthy of silent films.

By: eddie willers

05.15.2014 @ 6:27 PM

“* Annet Mahendru has a face worthy of silent films’

And a body worthy of Michelangelo.

By: Agent 0

05.15.2014 @ 8:35 PM

A review of tonight’s “The Americans” coming up just as soon as I deposit the used condom in the trash and towel off with a kleenex. I think this explains how they are getting around the having children issue.

By: GB

05.15.2014 @ 9:39 PM

I appreciated the scene with Martha and Clark and the condom (and scenes from other episodes) just for the simple fact that this is one of the first shows to demonstrate that sex is truly a messy thing when it comes down to it. Don’t see something that real on most TV shows.

I agree with the poster who wrote about Nina being enigmatic…they have written her and Annet Mahendru has played her so well.

My gut tells me the family was killed by Fred. Don’t know why, but figure maybe they finally let him in to see the lot of them and he snapped or something. But don’t take my word for that. And it is reasonable to me that Fred could certainly be Claudia’s paramour. We haven’t seen anyone else who’d fit the bill.

By: Ray

05.17.2014 @ 9:34 PM

If Fred killed Emmet and Leanne, Fred being Claudia’s lover is unnecessary. Fred already knows what Emmet and Leanne are without being told by Claudia.

By: archie

05.16.2014 @ 12:50 AM

Is anyone else intrigued by both Paige (1 or 2 weeks ago) and Elizabeth (5/14) leaving the front door key on the table right inside the foyer? Doesn’t seem in keeping for the self-contained Jennings family and certainly not for Elizabeth herself. Will Larrick get the key?

By: Hunter2012

05.16.2014 @ 3:08 AM

Larrick, Philip, Elizabeth or any other intelligence or special forces operative doesn’t need a key to get in a common house. We have seen Philip pick locks on several occasions, Elizabeth too, and we have recently seen Larrick enter three homes including an innocent family’s (just passing through on the way to George’s), George’s, Kate’s and likely a fourth, Jared’s foster home, so the key means nothing.

By: Barbara Stoner

05.16.2014 @ 1:14 AM

I begin each episode in the forlorn hope that somehow Martha will be taken out by a stray bullet in some messed up scenario before she even knows anything’s messed up. That she dies in all innocence and belief in having once been loved. But that’s just because I’m an emotional coward, who can handle the occasional evisceration (I watch Vikings, too), but this kind of betrayal is too painful. I can’t even claim that I’ve experienced it in any serious way, but for some reason the imagined heartbreak is … heartbreaking.

By: rafanadel

05.16.2014 @ 1:59 AM

Maybe he already had a vasectomy but he doesn’t want her to know.

By: LJones41

05.16.2014 @ 2:08 AM

Nina may have feelings for Stan, but he did kill Vlad and lied to her about it. More importantly, he was the one who dragged her into espionage by blackmailing her in the first place. If I were her, I’d stick to Oleg.

By: Hunter2012

05.16.2014 @ 5:14 AM

I see your point, but that is not an option now. Besides while Stan did kill Vlad, Nina did say she understood why, in retaliation for the death of the FBI agent.

By: jack

05.16.2014 @ 10:37 PM

According to the writers, Nina was KGB before she came to America. If you’re like me, that seems to be a headscratcher, but that’s what they’ve said apparently.

By: rod

05.16.2014 @ 3:29 PM

Fred’s affection for Jared but not so much his sister – as evidenced by the lack of gifts for her in his closet – marks it as too much of a coincidence that the killings occurred while Jared was out of the room.

Oh, and the ‘closeted’ gifts for J make for an interesting metaphor, don’t they?

By: Victoria

05.16.2014 @ 10:17 PM

Are you thinking pedophile? … Fred also asks Philip if that was his son, he saw him with.

By: Rod

05.19.2014 @ 1:38 PM

I fear even worse. Fred’s a pedophile and Jared was the honeypot. That’s why Kate could meet with him without a disguise – Jared was being used by The Centre and his parents to keep Fred working for The Cause.

By: MR23

05.21.2014 @ 4:30 AM

Rod–I totally agree with you about the honeypot theory. I believe Jared’s father was “pimping” him out to Fred. I believe the Centre has only just learned of this (otherwise Claudia would have also known that Jared was aware of his parent’s real occupation) and Kate is meeting him in the aftermath as a handler.
I don’t believe it was any mistake that Jared was not killed (it seems a professional hit and any professional would have got the family while they were ALL together). As to WHO killed Jared’s family, I believe that is likely Jared, Fred, or a plot by the two together.

By: J Lee

05.17.2014 @ 12:30 AM

Is there any way for people here to debate issues with each other? It seems to me that people can reply to other peoples’ posts. But it seems very difficult to keep track of a single flowing debate or a discussion about any individual topic.

If there is no such forum here, would anyone else know of a site that hosts serious discussions about this show?

I have been to a few sites that purport to discuss this show. But, unfortunately, many of the posts are extremely juvenile.

By: brickwalls

05.17.2014 @ 4:37 PM

Some critics who have already seen the season finale, raved about it on twitter. (No spoilers). [twitter.com]

By: JR

05.19.2014 @ 7:14 PM

I’m only reading the review and comments now. Responding to Hunter 2012’s comment about Nina and Stan and Oleg. I think Nina was emotionally done with Stan the day she figured out he killed Vlad. That’s why she confessed to Arkady and she’s just playing Stan now.